The United States embassy in Harare did not agree with the conclusion of an International Monetary Fund mission to Zimbabwe that the government’s income estimate for 2009 was overly optimistic saying in light of the gaping lack of information on private sector activity and its capacity to rebound, it believed Finance Minister Tendai Biti’s revised budget broadly reflected actual government incomes and expenditures.
The embassy said the budget was in compliance with the United States’ Department of State Foreign Operations and Related Programmes Appropriation Act under which Zimbabwe was receiving foreign assistance in the 2009 financial year.
It said the appointment of Biti had paved the way for a more realistic budget where expenditure matched revenue and he had prohibited off-budget spending.
Biti had also seized traditional finance ministry powers from the governor of the central bank Gideon Gono who had mismanaged public funds in the past years.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 09HARARE289, IMPROVED BUDGET TRANSPARENCY IN ZIMBABWE
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|
Reference ID |
Created |
Released |
Classification |
Origin |
VZCZCXRO0686
PP RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHSB #0289 0961547
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 061547Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4338
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 2265
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 2766
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 2888
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 2153
RUEHDK/AMEMBASSY DAKAR 2509
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 2936
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 5377
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 2055
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RHMFISS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RUZEHAA/CDR USEUCOM INTEL VAIHINGEN GE
UNCLAS HARARE 000289
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
AF/S FOR B. WALCH
AF/EPS FOR ANN BREITER
EEB/IFD/OMA FOR JULIA JACOBY
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR L.DOBBINS AND J. HARMON
TREASURY FOR D. PETERS
COMMERCE FOR ROBERT TELCHIN
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU
ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID ECON PREL EFIN PGOV ZI
SUBJECT: IMPROVED BUDGET TRANSPARENCY IN ZIMBABWE
REF: A. SECSTATE 28885
¶B. HARARE 0260
¶C. HARARE 232
¶1. (U) The Government of Zimbabwe is a recipient of FY09
foreign assistance, as defined in Ref A, under the Department
of State Foreign Operations and Related Programs
Appropriations Act (SFOAA). Post therefore provides the
following response to the questions contained in Ref A.
¶2. (U) The Government of Zimbabwe’s budget is publicly
available, and incomes and expenditures are included in the
budget.
¶3. (SBU) The formation of an inclusive government in
February, 2009 and the appointment of Tendai Biti of the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which had been the
opposition party, as Minister of Finance, paved the way for
the introduction of a revised and considerably more realistic
FY09 budget. Soon after taking office, Biti introduced a
cash budget (Ref B), i.e. expenditures match revenue, and he
prohibited off-budget spending. He also seized back
traditional finance ministry powers from the Governor of the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, who had mismanaged public finance
in the past years.
¶4. (SBU) A recent IMF mission to Zimbabwe concluded that the
Government’s income estimate for FY09 was overly optimistic
(Ref C). In light of the gaping lack of information on
private sector activity and its capacity to rebound, we
nevertheless believe that the budget broadly reflects actual
government incomes and expenditures in this first year of
economic recovery in Zimbabwe in over a decade, and that the
budget is therefore in compliance with Section 7088(c) of the
SFOAA.
MCGEE
(31 VIEWS)
